Tis the Season to be a Wizard
by IvyWings
Summary: Dairine struggles to find Nita the perfect gift before realizing the Ultimate present. Meanwhile, Nita and Kit decorate the tree, oblivious to Dairine's schemes. A Christmas One-shot.


**Disclaimer: I do not own the Young Wizards Series!**

**Here is my Christmas 08 one-shot! I was supposed to post this yesterday (Christmas eve) but I didn't have time! Sorry about that! I hope this came out OK!**

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Dairine had been to three bookstores, a music store, the mall, and was now making her third circulation of the best stocked electronic shop in New York, and still couldn't find the perfect Christmas gift for Nita. Nita was 17 this year, and though this was not the first Christmas without their mother, Dairine knew that sometimes it hit Nita hard. So she wanted to get Nita the best gift; a gift that would keep her smiling all year round. The situation was beginning to look hopeless.

Dairine picked up the latest Star wars game for computer. It was a bonus addition, including three new spaceship models, a custom designing station for your own galactic empire, a bonus Eewok adventure story, updated character profiles, more than 150 hours of gaming fun; and it could be all hers for just $67.99. Dairine shook out her red hair and snorted, putting the small box back on the shelf. The custom designing station was intriguing but she could just have Spot download a copy of the game for her later.

_Frosty the Snowman,_ which had been blaring on the stores speakers, came to a stop and a new song came on. Dairine leaned against a metal rack of clearance c.d.s (up to 50% off!) and wracked her brain. Why was this so hard? The cheerful Christmas music sang above her.

_And all I want for Christmas…_

…_is…_

…_you!!!_

The singer stretched the last note out until the chorus struck in again. Dairine unconsciously tapped her foot along to the beat. Then she looked up and a grin stretched over her face. She knew exactly what she was going to give Nita for Christmas. And all it was going to cost he was a little wizardry. Several employees watched as a small girl with flaming red hair and a maniac grin, skip –yes, literally skip- out of their store without making any purchases.

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"I still think we should trim the top down a bit...otherwise, how are we going to fit the angel on top?"

"…If you think that I'm going to climb back up there to saw off another 2 inches that will end up still not being enough, you're crazy."

Nita scowled up at Kit who was flopped onto the chair, looking up at the tree the two had just dragged in. Nita pretended not to notice the trail of green needles they had left on her father's immaculately vacuumed carpet. He had been called away to his flower shop for an emergency Christmas bouquet that just could not wait. He had appointed the task of setting up the tree and decorations to Nita and Kit. Nita knew he wouldn't be back till late.

"The angel will just have to deal with a little cramped space," Kit continued. "If it starts complaining about its wings needing more room, just threaten to pack it back in the boxes early. Or take off its wings. That'll shut it up."

"Why are you so mean to our angel?"

"Its creepy. And always glaring at me. I swear, that things got it in for me."

"Death by Christmas Angel? You sound like a little kid. But you have to help me put up the lights and tinsel." Nita said.

"Yeah, yeah," he said casually but Nita saw he was grinning. It was a bit sad; here it was, Christmas Eve and they didn't even have their tree decorated. They had all the other decorations, but a bare tree. Things had just been so hectic and Nita's father didn't want to get into the whole tree thing this year but Dairine put up such an awful fuss that their Dad caved. Ironic how Dairine seemed to be off the hook for setting such a thing up. She had mysteriously disappeared up to her room the minute the boxes were hauled up from the basement.

Nita rummaged around in the mangled, beat up Christmas boxes until she unearthed the coils of Christmas lights. As Nita pulled them from the box, she groaned as she realized how tangled they were. "This is going to take us forever!" She moaned. "Come down here and help me," she told Kit.

He slid off the chair and onto the floor beside her. "Look, its not that bad," he told her, digging his fingers into a lump of cord. "I'll have these out in no time."

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"I'm never, ever, ever letting you near the lights again." Nita told Kit.

After assuring her that he would be able to untangle them, Kit set upon the lights with such ferocity Nita had to lean away in fear of getting decked in the face. Now almost an hour later their result was a twisted lump of cord that had somehow managed to wind itself around Nita's feet while simultaneously choking the life (or stuffing) out of a toy reindeer.

"Forget it. I'm going to see if dad has any unopened boxes of lights in the closet," Nita told Kit.

"No wait, I've almost got it…" Kit protested.

Nita rolled her eyes. She gently disentangled herself from the cords and stood up to leave the room. When she returned she was carrying three cardboard boxes. "We're in luck," Nita told Kit. "I found some new lights in there plus some fresh tinsel." She dropped a plastic pouch of shiny silvery strands on the couch and walked over towards Kit with the other boxes. As she was rounding a chair, she failed to see the strand of lights that had firmly wrapped itself around the leg of the couch and chair. She also failed to see how they seemed to tighten themselves and lift off the ground a few inches, and her foot caught on the taught string. She stumbled forward, tried to catch her balance but failed and headed for the floor.

It was only thanks to Kit she didn't do a face plant. He reached out and caught hold of her, almost falling himself but eventually steadying the both of them. Nita had dropped the boxes and found her palms flat against Kit's chest. She was surprised to feel hard muscles beneath his t-shirt. They both flushed and Kit released her.

"Sorry about that. Thanks." She told him, busying herself picking up the tangled lights and tossing them unceremoniously into an old box. Kit joined her and then they both got to work on the lights.

Finally after a few stubbed toes, a couple of colorful swears, and plenty of arguing, the tree was tightly wrapped in lights and half of it was decorated with strings of tinsel. Static was proving to be a major issue at the moment. Nita doubled over in laughter as Kit tried to discard a particularly stubborn piece of tinsel. The minute he dragged it off one hand, it wrapped itself around Kits other hand. He tried flicking it off but its simply zoomed right back. Kit peeled it off his cheek and shook it out but the string flung itself around his fingers instead.

"Stop laughed!" he said indignantly. "It's not funny! I can't get it off!" Nita reached over and pinched the end of it, drawing it slowly off Kit's hand. Then she let it go and they both watched as it floated peacefully downward. When it was 6 inches from the floor it took an abrupt turn and fastened itself to Kit's jeans. Nita stared laughing again.

"You think it's that funny?" he said. With a smirk he upended the rest of the bag onto Nita's head. She stopped laughing abruptly and stared up at him with wide eyes, one hand reaching up to pull a fistful from her hair.

"Oh, you are _**so**_ going to regret that," she told him. Then she lunged. The two of them fell over the back of the couch wrestling. Nita tossed a handful of tinsel into Kits face and he gave a spluttering laugh. Nita shook her hair and the tinsel rained down on Kit who was pinned beneath her. She reached up a hand and tugged at her hair, half of which was now silver. "I'm _never_ going to get this out!" she groaned.

Kit flipped her off him and they both slid off the couch onto the floor. "I would say I'm sorry but I wouldn't mean it." he told her with a laugh. Then he started helping pull the strands from her hair.

"You're lucky you have such short hair," Nita told him. "The tinsel doesn't get tangled like it does in mine."

Kit who had been pulling silver strands from her head, ran his hand down her wavy brown hair, wrapping the end around his finger and lightly tugging. "Yeah, but your long hair is pretty," he told her. Nita shook some of her brown waves across her face so he wouldn't see her red cheeks.

After a few moments of silence, Nita looked at the clock and was surprised to find it as late as 10:48pm. "We better get the decorations on the tree before Christmas," Nita reminded Kit. "I don't mind a few strands of tinsel in my hair anyway." She got up, flicking some last bits of tinsel in Kit's direction and surveyed their mess. There was tinsel **everywhere**. She sighed and ran a hand through her tousled hair then kicked at a box full of round Christmas bulbs.

"Do we have to?" Kit asked. "I mean the tree looks fine the way it is." Nita had to admit it didn't look half bad. Lights, tinsel, and a few strings of red beads.

Nita rubbed her hands together and looked the tree up and down. A grin stretched across her face. "Yes, but think how fast it would be if we used our wizardry to decorate it.

Kit shook his head and reached out to take her wrists, separating her hands. "Oh, no. Remember last time you tried something similar to my room? I couldn't get that smell out for weeks! Plus the bed became so scared of me, I had to sleep on the floor!"

Nita shot him a glare. "That was sooo not my fault. But I guess its good enough, as long as you put the angel on top," Nita told him. "While you're doing that, I'll get set out cookies for Santa." Kit raised an eyebrow at her. Nita gasped in mock surprise. "You mean you don't even set out cookies for Santa?" she asked him with wide eyes and a smirk. "No wonder he gives you crap for Christmas. Besides the fact that you're an awful boy most of the year."

"Last time I check, Santa doesn't give out 'crap' but coal, which considering the price per ton this year, is not a bad alternative. And since when have I been an awful? I'm a regular saint." He batted his eyes in an attempt to look innocent.

Nita just shook her head and headed for the kitchen. With a sigh, Kit followed her, ignoring the scowling angel on the floor that he was supposed to be arranging on the tree. Nita set out a plate on the table and filled it with chocolate chip, peanut butter, and sugar cookies. "Think you put out enough?" Kit asked, looking at the mountain she had balanced on the plate. Nita slid a glass across the table and started filling it up with milk. She was almost to the top when suddenly music started blaring form the other room. With a jerk, the milk flooded over the sides and collected in a puddle on the table.

"Oh shoot!" she cried. "Who turned on the music? Dairine?! Turn that off!" The music continued. "Dairine!!" Nita hollered, soaking up the milk with a napkin. She shot a glance at Kit who then turned and hurried back to the living room. It was empty of any redheaded menaces. Kit walked over to the c.d player which was currently lit up, and cranking out the tunes.

He reached out a finger and pressed the Play/Pause button. The music kept on going. He pressed it again. Nothing. Then he pressed the Stop button. When that didn't work, he tried turning to volume knob down. It turned and turned but the volume didn't change. Nita, done cleaning up the milk, leaned over Kits shoulder and watched as he tried to tame the c.d. player.

"What's wrong with it?" he asked, pressing more buttons.

"Nothing as far as I know!" Nita said. She fished around in the back then the music fell silent as she came up with the plug. "Wow, that was –" Suddenly the music started playing again. Nita stared at the plug in her hand, and checked to see if she had the right cord. She did. "How can it be playing with no power?"

Kit tried to eject the c.d. but the player would not relinquish it. Kit tried talking to the piece of machinery. "Um, could you please turn yourself off? Or at least turn the volume down a little bit?"

_That would be against my instructions. _The c.d. player told him solemnly.

"What--? Who's instructions?" The player immediately shut up. "Could you please just turn it down a little bit?" The music went down maybe a fraction of a decibel. But then it started up some ridiculously mushy Christmas love song.

"What ever," Nita said. "I'm going to go eat Santa's cookies." Kit followed her back into the kitchen where she promptly started to get to work eating Santa's mountain of cookies.

"Who's the bad one now?" Kit asked, watching her flick crumbs off the table. "You're practically stealing Santa's cookies. Stealing from the jolly fat man is like a sin."

Nita harrumphed. "I haven't technically given them to him yet so I can eat them if I want. God knows he gets enough at other houses. And really, if you had enough magic to have flying reindeer and visit every house in the world in one night, why would you have to take cookies from innocent children? Santa is the real thief here." Nita helped herself to another cookie.

"Your logic stuns me," Kit said dryly. "But really, I never expected you to be this…bad."

Nita threw him a glance. "Oh, I can be bad when ever I want to be." She leaned in closer to him as she said this as if daring him to argue with her.

"Oh really?" Kit threw her a sly glance.

"Really. You should see me in action sometime."

"Maybe I should."

"Hmmm," The two hadn't realized how close they'd been getting. Suddenly the doorbell rang. Well it rang, and then started yelling. _Someone's at the door! Go get it! Someone's at the door! Yay! Getitgetitgetitgetit!!!_

"Who could that be at this hour?" Nita turned to Kit who shrugged, and then they stepped into the hall to get the door.

No one was there. "Someone was probably playing a trick," Kita said. He turned towards Nita and stopped.

She was looking up at the sky with wonder in her eyes. "Look at the stars," she whispered. "They're so pretty. Sometimes, I just see them and think _wow_, the universe really is a big place y'know?"

Kit glanced up at the stars, but quickly returned his gaze to Nita's face. "Yeah," he murmured, still looking at her. "So beautiful."

Maybe it was just the magic of Christmas Eve, or the way her eyes had lit up when she was looking at the sky. Or the soft downy flakes that were falling in her hair, and on her freckled cheeks, or the strands of shiny tinsel peeking out from her soft waves. Or maybe it was something else.

Kit reached out tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. Nita turned to him and he brushed snow off her hair. She was looking at him with the same sort of wonder she had when looking at the stars. "So beautiful," Kit whispered again. Then he bent down to kiss her, the snow dancing all around them. Above their heads, a sprig of mistletoe blossomed unnoticed, just as planned.

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The next morning while the sun was just peeking over the horizon, Dairine came thumping down only to stop short at the sight that greeted her. Besides the fact that there was tinsel **everywhere, **and the carpet was practically green from pine needles, Nita and Kit were curled up together on the couch, Nita's cheeks resting on Kit's chest, and his cheek on her hair. They were wearing twin smiles and Dairine noticed even in their sleep, their hands were clasped.

A sly smile broke over Dairine's face. Everything had gone according to plan. "Merry Christmas Nita," Dairine whispered. She retreated quietly upstairs, not even noticing the plastic Angel balanced on the mantel right above Kits head. The Angel with a smirk, and looking like it was about to pounce.

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Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays! Merry [insert your holiday celebration]! Please Review! -Ivy


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